Council buys mobile traffic counter to support grant bids for road safety and lighting

Tarentum Borough Council approved the purchase of a StatTrak traffic data collector for $5,519.58 to collect vehicle counts at strategic locations, a tool borough officials said will help document traffic volumes when applying for state grants for lighting and safety improvements. Manager Dwight Bodorf told council the device is a larger, portable count unit that can be moved to specific intersections and bridge approaches to collect monthly volume information; he said the unit will supplement smaller speed displays already used by police. Bodorf cited one count showing 163,099 vehicles on a single road (Tenth Avenue) during August and said better traffic data may strengthen future grant applications for replacement lights or signal improvements. Council action: The motion to purchase the StatTrak data collector passed unanimously, 7–0. The council approved the purchase from the budget described by staff. Context and limitations: Bodorf noted that state approval for changing speed limits on state roads requires a traffic study and that the state uses the 80th‑percentile speed as a standard; local speed limits can be set on borough roads but state routes require state review. He also said the borough will consider adding smaller portable counters in a future budget cycle to rotate across sites.